Trump brushes off polls showing Biden in lead

A Reuters/Ipsos poll this week showed that presumed Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden would beat Donald Trump if the election were held today, reflecting what other recent polls have shown.

But at least one person doesn’t buy it: President Trump.

During an interview this week with Reuters, Trump said, “I don’t believe the polls. I believe the people of this country are smart. And I don’t think that they will put a man in who’s incompetent.”

More critical perhaps for Trump is a Reuters/Ipsos poll of the three key battleground states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania that had Biden with an edge over the president of six percentage points.

Trump’s victories in those states in the 2016 election helped propel him to the White House.

A source told Reuters that Trump closely questioned his campaign manager, Brad Parscale, and other advisers after they presented him with poll numbers showing him losing to Biden.

Several media outlets reported Trump shouted at Parscale – which Trump refuted in a Thursday tweet, saying, “Actually, he is doing a great job, I never shouted at him….”

Trump also told Reuters he did not view the election as a test of how he handled the pandemic, saying it would be “a referendum on a lot of things.”

Biden has criticized Trump’s handling of the outbreak.

While doctors and scientists have spoken of a “new normal” in the months and years to come, Trump this week dismissed that notion.

(SOUND BITE) (ENGLISH) U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, SAYING:

"I think the new normal is what it was three months ago. We want to go back to where it was.”

He also said he’d be traveling to Arizona next week and hopes to go to Ohio shortly after that.

And while he acknowledged it’s still too soon for big rallies, he said he looked forward to starting them up again in “the not too distant future.”